You know you’re in for a great conference when someone runs on stage dressed as a banana. And it’s even better when you get to model this banana costume yourself later that day!

From January 14 to 16, I, along with some Ten Thousand Villages colleagues, attended the Canadian Fair Trade Network 2015 conference. This year’s theme was ‘Engage,’ and the aforementioned banana costume was just one of many highlights from this annual event.

For the past few months, there have been some powerful images circling around the internet depicting scenes of extreme poverty or disaster, while a dozen anonymous onlookers give the horrific scene a thumbs-up. The message is hammered home in the tagline: “Liking isn’t helping. Be a volunteer.”

I’ve seen these images pop up on social media every couple weeks since their appearance in February. Ironically, while Facebook likes may not be directly helping the global poor, it certainly is helping this ad campaign. Without the viral appeal of the images, developed for Crisis Relief Singapore, the call to action would never have been heard.